Sunday, August 13, 2017

Often now I’ve seen actors who play super-heroes in movies do interviews where they all lament how they were forced to eat little other than chicken breasts and broccoli during the months they trained for the role.

This unappealing eating regimen has become almost the default—and for no good reason. There are plenty of other foods, and even interesting ways to prepare chicken and broccoli, to make eating pleasurable again, rather than a chore.

The easiest and best of these is SOUP.

A basic soup would take no time at all: a carton of chicken broth, a can of chicken breast and frozen vegetables of choice. That’s it! It's never a good idea to allow others, whether it be some giant food corporation or your local restaurant, to determine what goes into your food.

You can increase the protein content and taste by adding to the above simple recipe a can of refried beans and a measure of uncooked rice, allowing the rice about 10 minutes additional cooking time to absorb the tasty liquid. Beans combined with rice make a complete muscle-building protein.

Consider also adding spices, such as herbs de provence, salt, Thai 7-spice, garlic powder, MSG, red pepper flakes and more. The spices at your local health food store that you purchase in bulk form - as opposed to pre-measured supermarket kind - are cheaper, usually fresher and of greater variety.Make enough soup to last you a few days. Then, when you walk in the door famished, there you have an already-prepared microwavable meal ready to eat in literally two minutes. I make enough to freeze so I always have a meal on hand when I'm too lazy to cook or go to the store. Otherwise in my hunger-panic I might end up grabbing an unproductive snack food like cookies or crackers that distances me from my goal.

Readjusting our posture provides an instant makeover. Nothing we can do is so comparatively effortless and at the same time makes a HUGE difference in our physique. Working to improve and solidify good posture makes all the difference in our looks but also in the message we’re sending out: that we are confident and excel physically.

I don’t have the mental energy to be totally aware at all times of my posture. The worst posture for me is when I am working in the kitchen, a room which, because I rarely eat out, I constantly inhabit. When I’m not cooking or eating I am prepping or cleaning up - which I don’t enjoy and thus find myself rushing through the task to get it over with - and that’s when my posture goes to hell. When I catch myself I immediately go into good posture mode, but I don’t always become aware right away or remain aware as I am preoccupied with the kitchen tasks.

Another poor posture time is while driving. I wasn’t even aware of this until I came across a YouTube video by a video blogger that pointed this out and offered solutions. Go to YouTube and search “driving posture” for the many videos on this overlooked subject.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

The Control Freaks who scream and evangelize about the supposed dangers of various foods—and the lists of their enemy foods are endless—meat, grains, vegetables, carbs, gluten, fats, sugar, salt, dairy, and on and on—need some serious therapy.

People who are so obtuse as to not recognize their own dysfunction and who, despite no evidence, present themselves as all-knowing experts on things such as nutrition or fitness whose goal is to harass and troll others are just begging to be ghosted. So do it.

It’s actually fear that makes the world go ‘round, rather than love. People are incredibly complicated as we all know, and it’s a waste of time to try to figure them out. The best option is to reject and ignore those who preach and divert all their energy into trying to convert you to their ways.

Recognize toxic Control Freaks for who they are when they come barging into your life, and for your own sake get rid of them. Shut them off, unfriend them, move on. Allowing toxic people space in your life leaves less room for the healthy, positive, supportive people we all require for a happy, balanced existence.

The compulsion to convert others—whether it be to food, fitness choices, religion, politics—illustrates an urgency to seek validation. People don’t put energy into converting others unless they’re insecure about their own choices. The philosophy being, if I can convince you to come over to my side, then that alleviates some of the nagging doubts and questions that I’m having concerning my choice.

Going to extremes is without exception a troubling behavior, and those who go to extremes are quite openly telling the rest of us how unbalanced they are. To paraphrase Maya Angelou, when people tell you how unbalanced they are, believe them—the first time.

Friday, August 4, 2017

Fat people it seems have given up on losing weight. Now they are evalgelizing about "body acceptance" which is code for giving up. “Accepting” your circumstance is no different when it comes to your poor physical state than “accepting” your poor mental health, or the poor state of your finances, the poor state of your marriage, the poor state of your career.

It’s called Giving Up.

We do not have millions wailing in protest over “undue pressure” to better their relationships, or their income, or their parenting, or their financial or career success. So what is it about losing weight that so rankles people? I’ll tell you: In order to achieve all other forms of success you need the cooperation of others, therefore, when things don’t go your way you can place the blame on them. Not so with eating.

You need other people’s cooperation to buy your product or service, to have a successful relationship, to get a promotion, to provide you with money for whatever reason, and thus when you are not successful in these areas, you can blame others.

However, when it comes to obesity, no one is shoving fast food down your gullet. No one is duct-taping you to the couch. There is no one or nothing else to blame, though people valiantly try: genetics, metabolism, thyroid.

For decades I’ve made fun of those people who without any proof whatsoever argue that “real” muscle can only be built using free weights, and that gym machines were a cop out—stated with authority as if science had conducted a double-blind study to back their ridiculous conclusion.

As those of us who have dramatically changed our bodies well know, ALL resistance training builds and shapes muscle, and arguing about which is superior is a waste of time and intellect.

“Mix it up” is the advice I’ve taken. Keep your muscles guessing. Don’t fall into the rut of a habitual unchanging workout. Keep your workout interesting. Experiment. There is no one answer or method to building muscle or pursuing fitness.

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The First Ward

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Welcome

We have tremendous control over our aging process via diet and exercise, specifically strength training. The only way to stop muscle and bone loss as we age is through strength training, and consuming food that aids the process.

There are a lot of misconceptions about diet and exercise, mostly thought up and spread around by those who want nothing to do with either. But if you want ultimate control over your health, your physical ability and your attractiveness, it's yours for the deciding.

Alex del Rosario MD

Reclaim Your Youth: Growing Younger After 40

About Me

A diagnosis of mild scoliosis as a young man got me into training with weights, which continues to this day. I enjoy personal training, restoring some of the world's earliest color photographs, tending my dogs, having wine with good friends, cooking, exploring and photographing Hawaii for my Driving & Discovering Hawaii guidebooks, as well as my own pleasure, and collecting old home movies from the 1900s thru the 1950s that I find at garage and estate sales.